Managing a Restaurant Kitchen

Managing a Restaurant Kitchen

Restaurants are places where people go to eat. People are usually hungry, but not just for food, but for good company, and good environment. That’s where good restaurants come in. So, is it enough for restaurants to serve just good food? If they have good environment, does the taste of the food matter?

A lot of people go to restaurants just to eat. That is a given. They love to eat Chinese, or Italian, or American event. For the kind of customer, a restaurant just has to maintain good food taste. But that is the most important aspect of management of a restaurant. A restaurant manager has to make sure that the foods served to the patrons are always up to mark, consistent to the quality and quantity of the food served. If the quality of food fluctuates, so will the customer flow in the restaurant?

Because the food served is the most important aspect of business for a restaurant, the crucial section in restaurant in terms of restaurant management is the management of the kitchen. The general manager of the restaurant has to make sure that he hire a capable and right man to be the kitchen manager who knows the business well. The chef and all cooks in the kitchen also have to be well versed in the trade of making food. The kitchen manager has to manage well all aspects of kitchen management including inflow of raw food material and ingredients, preparation of food, preparation time and serve time etc.

The front end of a restaurant, the dining or the eating area is also equally important as it is the face of the restaurant. Whatever food is created in the kitchen is served here, so the environment of the place should be very pleasant. The managers in the area – the floor managers has to be skilled in people relations, should be a pleasant personality and at the same time be well versed in the kind of food served in the restaurant. He should be able to deal with customers in stressful situations. The bar managers should be able to manage the bar well to serve the patrons well. He or she should be well informed about the beverages served and skilled in cocktails.

The general manager is overall in charge of running the restaurant. Even if there are the floor managers, bar managers and kitchen managers, the responsible person is the general manager is anything goes wrong. Therefore the general manager of the restaurant should always be available in the restaurant, special during pick hours. It is the responsibility of the general manager to see that the restaurant is clean and tidy all the time, the food prepared in the kitchen meets the restaurant standard and the quality standards required by the authorities. It is also the duty of the general manager to make sure all his patrons leave the restaurant full and happy. Therefore the general manager should possess the interpersonal skills to interact with the customers in all kind of situations. He should also be able to accept mistakes when situation arises.